Expert Report on the Distinctiveness of Norfolk Islander Ethnicity, Culture and the Norf’K Language (Norfolk Island - South Pacific)
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EXPERT REPORT ON THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF NORFOLK ISLANDER ETHNICITY, CULTURE AND THE NORF’K LANGUAGE (NORFOLK ISLAND - SOUTH PACIFIC) Professor Peter Mühlhäusler, M.A (Oxon); MPhil., Ph.D. FASSA Executive Summary: Prepared by: Professor Peter Mühlhäusler M.A. (Oxon); M.Phil. ; Ph.D.; F.A.S.S.A. Norfolk Island is Ethnically, Culturally and Linguistically Distinct from Australia. Ethnicity, culture and language of the Anglo-Polynesian-West-Indian Pitcairn descendants came into being on Pitcairn Island in 1790 and were taken by the Pitcairners to Norfolk Island in 1856 where it continued to develop, without Australian input, until the 20th century. Intermarriages with mainland Australians and Australian assimilation policies have not significantly weakened the distinctiveness of the Norfolk Islanders of Pitcairn descent. The literature surveyed as well as field-notes, taken over 21 years, confirm: • The Norfolk Islanders of Pitcairn ancestry remain a genetic isolate; • Anthropometric research suggests significant physiological differences between Norfolk Islanders and Anglo-Australians; • The Norfolk Islanders are distinct from mainland Australians with regard to all parameters that define Ethnicity: homeland, shared ancestry, cultural narrative and cultural core values; • Norfolk Islanders subscribe to a separate Anglo-Polynesian rather than Australian identity. This was strengthened after the Great Depression when Norfolk Islander migrants joined the Polynesian Club in Sydney. Norfolk Island has been a member of a number of Pacific cultural organizations. The Pitcairn homeland and the Pitkern-Norf’k language play a central role in defining the identity of Norfolk Islanders; • The material culture of the Norfolk Islanders combines Tahitian, West Indian and British influences with a large amount of adaptation as well as later influences from American whalers and the High Anglican Melanesian Mission. Importantly, cultural forms that bear resemblance to Australian cultural forms (kites, surfing, pie cooking) can be shown to have come from other sources. • The intangible culture of the Norfolk Islanders eXhibits numerous differences with that of the Australian mainland, particularly in their musical styles, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and spirituality; • The Norf’k language is neither directly related to English nor mutually intelligible. It is technically characterized as an Anglo-Polynesian-St. Kitts Creole language. Its core grammar is typologically different from English. • The semantic and pragmatic properties of the Norf’k language are more Polynesian than English. Polynesian pragmatics is carried over into the variety of English used by Norfolk Islanders. The culture of the Pitcairner descendants has remained distinct, viable and dynamic and is passed on to future generations in a number of ways: • Preservation of material culture in collections and museums • Preservation of intangible culture through written or visual records • Maintenance by consciously living the culture • Revival by devising strategic means of enhancing transmission • Adaptation of older culture to new conditions 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: ............................................................................................................................. 2 NORFOLK ISLAND IS ETHNICALLY, CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DISTINCT FROM AUSTRALIA. .......... 2 1 BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 ASSIMILATION POLICIES ........................................................................................................................... 6 2 THE ISOLATION EXPERIMENT ................................................................................................................ 8 3 PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, GENETICS AND NORFOLK ISLANDER ETHNICITY ...................................... 10 3.1 GENERAL REMARKS ............................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 EARLIER OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS ....................................................................................... 10 4 RECENT GENETIC WORK ...................................................................................................................... 16 4.1 GENERAL REMARKS .............................................................................................................................. 16 4.2 METABOLIC AND RENAL DISORDERS ......................................................................................................... 17 4.3 MIGRAINE .......................................................................................................................................... 17 4.4 GENDER BIASED ADMIXTURE .................................................................................................................. 18 4.5 CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE ..................................................................................................................... 18 4.6 COMBINED GENETIC FACTORS ................................................................................................................. 19 4.7 MYOPIA RESEARCH ............................................................................................................................... 19 5 ETHNICITY ........................................................................................................................................... 20 5.1 DEFINITIONS OF ETHNICITY ...................................................................................................................... 20 5.2 COMPONENTS OF ETHNICITY .................................................................................................................... 20 5.2.1 COMMON ANCESTRY ........................................................................................................................... 20 5.2.2 HOMELAND ...................................................................................................................................... 21 5.2.3 SHARED HISTORICAL MEMORIES (SHARED NARRATIVE) ............................................................................... 21 5.2.4 DETAILS OF THE NARRATIVE ................................................................................................................. 23 5.3 CORE CULTURAL VALUES: ....................................................................................................................... 24 5.3.1 GENERAL REMARKS ............................................................................................................................ 24 5.3.2 CORE CULTURAL VALUES OF NORFOLK ISLANDERS .................................................................................... 24 5.3.2.1 KNOWING ONE’S ROOTS (KUMFRUM) ................................................................................................. 24 5.3.2.2 SHARING FOOD AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT ............................................................................................. 25 5.3.2.3 DEMOCRACY AND EGALITARIANISM .................................................................................................... 26 5.3.2.4 LOVE OF QUEEN VICTORIA AND THE MONARCHY ................................................................................... 27 5.3.2.5 SPIRITUALITY ................................................................................................................................. 28 5.3.2.6 HONOURING THE DEAD .................................................................................................................... 29 5.3.2.7 SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE ................................................................................................................. 30 6 CULTURE SHOCK ................................................................................................................................. 31 7 ASSIMILATION, NORMALISATION, EDUCATIONAL POLICIES TOWARD NORFOLK ISLANDER CULTURE AND THE NORF’K LANGUAGE .................................................................................................................. 34 7.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 34 7.2 EDUCATION DURING THE ‘EXPERIMENT’ .................................................................................................... 35 7.3 AN INTERLUDE - EDUCATION AND POWER .................................................................................................. 36 7.4 THE LANGUAGE QUESTION 1897 - 1914 ................................................................................................... 37 7.5 NORFOLK ISLAND AND COMMONWEALTH CONTROL .................................................................................... 39 7.6 POST WORLD WAR 2 AND RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ..................................................................................... 44 3 8 SOCIAL STRUCTURES ........................................................................................................................... 45 9 CULTURE ............................................................................................................................................. 47 9.1 BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................................................... 47 9.2 CULTURE TRANSMISSION